Mouflon are found in Asia from Iraq to Kazakhstan and India. This particular subspecies is found in Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan

What They Do

Males that are solitary most of the year will compete with each other during the breeding season by head butting and jumping―up to nine feet! The winner of these competitions will mate with 4 or 5 ewes.

How They’re Doing

Although domestic sheep thrive throughout the world today, the Transcaspian urial is considered vulnerable to extinction. The main reasons are poaching and competition for food with livestock.

Both males and females grow spiral horns. The male’s horns are larger and can measure more than two and a half feet in length..

This species is found at lower elevations where there are higher numbers of people and where the urial compete directly with domestic livestock for grazing areas. Urial densities are often naturally low because they live in a hot, dry, habitat with limited food. Living close to human settlements makes the urial vulnerable to being hunted or poached. In some countries, urial are highly prized by trophy hunters and there is pressure for governments to open hunting. Due to increasing habitat loss, urial populations are becoming smaller and more isolated.

Things the Zoo’s Done/Doing

The Minnesota Zoo has exhibited Asian wild horses since opening in 1978. In 1991, the Minnesota Zoo sent a genetically valuable stallion to a breeding program in the Netherlands. His descendants are now successfully reproducing in the wild. Mares and stallions from other zoos are brought to the Minnesota Zoo for breeding. The Minnesota Zoo’s Director of Animal Collections coordinates breeding of this species through the Asian Wild Horse Species Survival Plan.

In the past, the Minnesota Zoo has supported reintroduction efforts in Asia through the Ulysses S. Seal Conservation Fund. Zoo scientists are currently working to save the species in Mongolia and China through active research under the True Wild Horse Campaign.